Earth Angel
by Haru-shira-kun
Summary: Alfred and Arthur are students at a high school, it's Valentines day, and both Alfred and Arthur are trying to  unbeknownst to each other  shy away from their current status as 'just friends'. A fluffy two-shot written in February.
1. Chapter 1

**~Alfred~**

I woke up this morning like I did any other morning: cold, tired, and not at all wanting to go to school. I groaned and rolled onto my stomach, pulling the blankets tighter around me. I looked at my watch, which said it was 8:00. School started at 8:45.

Whatever. My attendance record was already terrible and one more late wouldn't hurt it. Then I saw the little number beside the time. "14". My eyes widened in realization. February 14. The most important day of the year.

Yesss! I jumped out of bed like it was on fire or something, getting into my uniform in record time. All I could think was "Valentine's Day! Valentine's Day!" I didn't even say a word to my parents as I ran out the door. I think I even skipped all the way to school.

You see, I have this huge crush on a guy who's in most of my classes. His name's Arthur. He's really smart. I wouldn't exactly say charming, but he has this attitude that draws me to him. He's British. And also very, very cute.

Yeah, shut up.

I stopped at a corner store along the way to get a box of chocolates. I figured I really couldn't go wrong with chocolate, and since I had completely forgotten would day it was, it would have to work. I smiled. I'd use the classic approach of hiding it in his locker before class started…then he'd find it…and…and…I don't know. I haven't gotten that far.

Anyways, I got to school fifteen minutes early (again, record time), greeted at the door by Gilbert. He slapped me on the back. "Hey, Jones! What's got you so excited?"

I must have still been smiling stupidly. "Valentine's Day, obviously!"

"Oho. Got a hot date or something?" he raised his eyebrows at me.

Pish. He wouldn't understand. So I just showed him the box of chocolates. "I hope so."

"Lemme guess. It's that freaky-but-hot girl that always wears a bow in her hair, right?"

"Hell no, she's freaking insane." Then I saw Arthur over Gilbert's shoulder, taking his jacket off at his locker. My heart fluttered. "Catch ya later Gil!" I left him with a wave and walked towards the object of my constant daydreams. I heard Gilbert call after me: "So you're gonna leave me hanging?" I ignored him.

"Hey Arthur!" I came up behind him and put a hand on his locker door as he opened it.

He jumped a bit and looked at me. "Oh. Hello Alfred," he said, with that dead sexy accent of his. Then he turned back to his locker and got some stuff out.

Huh. Not exactly welcoming. He was probably tired, it _was_ a Monday. I turned to my own locker, which was right beside his. (His last name's Kirkland. Mine's Jones. J, K. I freaking love alphabetical order.)

"Somebody's on edge today," I said, grinning and starting to get my stuff for morning classes.

He scowled at me, like he always does when he doesn't have an answer. He kept getting stuff from his locker without even glancing once in my direction.

I wanted to keep talking to him, but my mind drew a blank. "Um…we have gym first, right?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

Arthur sighed. "Yes, we do."

The bell rang, signalling for us to head to our first class and he started to walk away. "And don't forget, it's in the pool today!" he shouted back at me.

"I know, thanks!"

I closed my locker and noticed that Arthur had left his open. That was weird. Arthur's usually really organized, and he doesn't jump like that when you talk to him. Well, everyone has their days. I just used his open locker as an opportunity to slip the chocolate in unnoticed. Then I ran downstairs to the pool.

-

Despite being pretty much the last one to get into the changeroom, I finished dressing first. I enjoy finishing first, because from my vantage point on the bench, I could see everything going on. This pretty much means getting to watch Arthur change.

He pulled his shirt off in one smooth motion, stretching his back muscles as he swung his arms around. I think I sighed seeing that, cause then my brother, Matthew, who was standing beside me, told me I sounded like a pedophile. I said that wasn't possible because we were all the same age. He just rolled his eyes.

Arthur then pulled his dress pants off so he was down to just his boxers. Dress pants. How the hell does he wear those every day?

Arthur pushed down his boxers. I felt my penis twitch and better judgement told me to look away. So I did, knowing it would be real awkward walking into class with an erection showing through my shorts.

Our gym teacher's pretty good, usually. But seeing as he's not a swimming kinda guy, we just ended up swimming lengths the whole time. I swear I must have done at least a hundred by the end of the 76-minute period. At least I was in the same lane as Arthur. And anyone who's gone swimming in a lane in the past should know that when you're going one way and someone else is going the other, you tend to bump into each other or brush by each other. (I would know. I once managed to whack my brother in the balls doing just that.) But yeah, that's what me and him were doing. He kept snapping at me afterwards to swim in a straight line, but I think it was worth it.

We emerged from the pool tired and sweaty, not really wanting to go to drama for next period. But I had already skipped too many of those classes and was bound to fail if I didn't go.

Our drama teacher is this old lady who looks like she'd be terrible and boring, but is actually not so bad. _I_ think so, at least. Anyways, today she told us to do some improv stuff. "We kind of have to!" she said. "We haven't done any this year, and – this is not my decision – but you're not going to pass this course without it. Now, seeing as it's Valentine's Day, which is cool, and it would be funny to see you guys taking a shot at acting romantic, that's what the improv is going to be based on."

Well, I was glad _someone_ shared my love of February 14.

"You guys will be but into pairs, by order of…"

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on…

"…first name." Aww, shit.

"The first group is Alfred and Antonio."

"Madame!" someone called from the back of the room. It was Francis. "Antonio isn't here today!"

"Oh? Okay, then." She wrote something on her clipboard. "Alfred and Arthur."

YES! This day was turning out to be the best. I felt like getting out of my seat and doing a happy dance right there. I got to do improv with Arthur. No wait – edit – I got to do _romantic_ improv with Arthur. Arthur wordlessly moved from his seat to sit beside me. I smiled at him. He didn't look too happy though as he played with the collar of his shirt. I coulda sworn he was blushing, though.

I sighed and fiddled with a pencil. I was lost in daydream-land for the rest of the time that it took her to name all the groups. Arthur elbowed me out of it, after a while.

"Yeah?" I whispered.

"Did you even hear what she told us to do?" he hissed.

"Er…yes…?"

Arthur scoffed at me. "Must I explain everything to you?"

Well, he was right. He did often have to explain stuff to me, because of my frequent zone-outs that always seemed to fall in the middle of something important. "Sorry. What are we doing?" I said.

"She's assigning each group a love song to improvise around," he said. "We listen to it once and the second time we'll be onstage. With the song in the background."

"Sounds sweet," I said. The prof came round with this hat full of little bits of paper. She held it in front of me and I took a bit of paper out. It had "If I had a million dollars" written on it.

"I love that song!" she said to us. "Remember, you're getting marked on the improv and the" – she looked at both of us with a grin – "onstage chemistry and coordination." She handed us an iPod with earbuds. "You have the duration of the song to figure stuff out between you." With that she moved on.

I didn't want to admit it to her, but I loved the song too. I knew every freaking word. I turned to Arthur. "You know it?" I asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." He was smiling. "I know every word."

I felt my heart flutter a little. "Dude, me too!" I said, holding my hand up for a high-five, which Arthur delivered. I turned on the iPod and got to the song, plugging an earbud into my ear and handing the other earbud to Arthur, who put it in his. I played the song. "So what're we gonna do for it?" I asked.

"Hmm." Arthur seemed to be deep in thought, with that subtle smile still on his face. Did I mention how cute he was? "It seems to me as if there's one man who's desperate to get a certain girl, and he's singing the song to her."

I nodded in agreement, just as the guy was saying "I'd buy you love" for the first time.

"But the girl doesn't like this guy, because he doesn't actually have a million dollars. Or something," I said. "But the guy won't give up."

He nodded. "So we'll have one of us as the girl and one as the guy."

"You're the girl." I jabbed a finger at him, grinning.

"Hey! That's…just...no!" he said.

"Come on, you know you fit the role better than I do. And I'm taller."

Arthur winced, probably at the height comment. Then he stopped and smiled. "But," he said, "isn't acting about being out of character?"

Shit, he was right. I couldn't think of anything to say to it, so I just made a pouty face and said "fine". More because I can't say no to him than because of the acting thing.

He looked at me and snickered. Was that a blush on his face? I sure hoped so.

The song came to a close, and with incredible timing, the old lady called "Alfred and Arthur! Start!"

"Shit! Where are we when this happens?" I asked him, unhooking the iPod and getting out of my seat.

"I'll act drunk. I'll lead, you'll know what to do." He gave me a grin that was real taunting. "Good luck."

"You too." I get a feeling that drama is Arthur's favourite class besides English. I don't blame him, he's incredible at it.

Then again, Arthur's incredible at everything in my eyes.

We mounted on stage and Arthur grabbed two chairs, setting them beside each other. He gestured for me to sit down on one and he sat down in the other. "It's supposed to be a couch," he muttered to me as the intro to the song was starting.

He pretended he was chugging from a bottle, swaying slightly and smiling stupidly. He really did look like he was drunk.

When the lyrics came on, he turned to me and started mouthing them, leaning over to my face. Surprisingly, I knew what he wanted: for me to push him away.

Let me tell you, it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

Anyways, I did eventually end up shoving him gently aside and making him sit upright again on his chair. He just leaned on me again. I pushed him off again. We kept going like this for a while, until I figured we needed some variation and I stood up, shaking Arthur off for the fourth or fifth time.

He stood up groggily, smiling at me with half-lidded eyes. I backed away from him with my hands out in front of me, trying to act grossed out. I probs just ended up looking nervous. He mouthed the second "I'd buy you love" and lunged at me, looping his arms around my waist. I held rubbed my temples and sighed, trying to act like a bitchy, exasperated girl. I shoved Arthur roughly (but not too roughly) by the head, unlatching him from my legs. He sat on the floor for a while as I walked to the other end of the stage. He was still mouthing the words to me, talking aimlessly about Kraft Dinner and Dijon Ketchup.

I rolled my eyes and took my phone out of my pocket, pretending to call someone while eyeing Arthur disgustedly. The last chorus came, with Arthur pretending to shout at me "If I had a million dollars" a bunch of times. He staggered over and threw his arms around my neck, knocking the phone out of my hand. (Hey, it worked nicely). He pretended to try to kiss me, leaning in and still looking drunk. He's really an incredible actor. Had the circumstances not been as they were, I'd have thought he was serious.

Sensing that the song was coming to a close, I threw him off me one last time and marched, looking annoyed, to the "couch". He sat down beside me, and we mouthed the last line of the song together.

_If I had a million do~~oo~~llars…I'd be rich._

Arthur pretended to fall asleep and fell on my lap. I sighed, shook my head and facepalmed, but didn't push him off.

And then the song ended.

And then everyone clapped.

Arthur got up (damn) and smiled at me. "Good enough romance for you?" he said.

I grinned back. "You had me fooled, man." I winked at him, picking up the two chairs and carrying them offstage. Why the hell did I wink at him?

The old lady nodded at us, congratulating us on a job well done. Arthur and I sat back down as she called the next pair – Berwald and Eduard. They were acting to the song "Just the Way You Are."

Let me tell you, it was freaking _hilarious_. First off, neither of the two are the greatest actors, I don't even know why they took drama. Berwald is this tall Swedish guy would scare the crap out of you if you saw him, but is actually really nice. Eduard's just really independent. And they both look REALLY similar.

So seeing that Swede say Eduard is beautiful while looking like he was going to murder him…it just kind of made my day. And Arthur's, too. I could see he was trying just as hard not to burst out laughing as I was. We shared a glance and I bit my lip trying to prevent the snicker that was just dying to come out.

Finally, the song ended, they got offstage, everyone clapped. Me and Arthur laughed.

"Funniest 5 minutes of my life," I whispered to him.

"Yes. Very much so." Oh God, that _accent_.

The rest of the class went up and did their thing. Personally, I think mine was the best though. And not because I have ego issues or anything, because Arthur's just that good an actor.

By the way, sorry I keep talking about Arthur so much. He's just what's on my mind 99% of the time, so there's not really any way of avoiding it.

The bell rang at 11:32, meaning it was lunch. Finally. I walked with Arthur exhaustedly to our lockers. "You're an amazing actor," I told him.

"Thank you," he said simply. "You sure knew what you were doing there, too."

I smiled at the compliment, opening my locker to dump my stuff inside.

"Hey…" I heard Arthur say from beside me. I looked over. His locker was open, and he had pulled out the box of chocolates I had slipped in unnoticed earlier.

"Chocolate?" I said, smile spreading across my face. "Someone's got an admirer~"

AGGHHH. I WISHED I HADN'T SAID THAT. SO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

"Sure…" he said, shrugging and putting it in his backpack. He spoke quieter. "But I don't care. It's not from the person I want it to be from."

I felt my heart lurch. Arthur…liked someone?

"How would you know?" I asked, having a hard time keeping my cool.

"Because h-" he stopped himself, blushing. Was he about to say 'he?' "_They_ just don't care about me like that." He avoided my gaze.

I wasn't going to interrogate him about it. It would seem odd. "Come on," I said, starting to walk towards the caf. "Don't be so hard on yourself, you're pretty awesome if you ask me." I smiled at him. I meant that more than he knew. It seemed like too much, though.

"Alright, whatever," he said, following me.

We got to the caf, when I realized I'd forgotten my lunch. "Aw, shit."

"Here, I'll buy you something," Arthur offered.

"Really?"

He looked at me funny. "Yes…it's no problem."

"Thanks." I grinned, going with him to the food line-up.

I was kinda in my own little world the whole time, wondering who it was Arthur was interested in. There weren't too many girls at our school, and most of them were already taken or something. Arthur wasn't the type to like a girl who already had a boyfriend. Earlier, it had sounded like he was gonna say 'he', though. Maybe…no, that's not possible. I decided I'd try and figure it out later.

"Earth to Alfred," Arthur said, waving his hand in front of my face and snapping me out of my thoughts.

"S-sorry…" I said. He pointed at my tray on the counter.

"I took the liberty of assuming you wanted a burger," he said.

I grinned. "Dude, you're awesome." I picked up the tray and walked over to the round table in the middle of the room, where our group of friends have been sitting every lunch since our freshman year. Me and Arthur squeezed in between Kiku and Feliks, on the opposite end of the table from Francis. Hell that guy's annoying.

"Hey, like, your drama thing was sooooo awesome!" Feliks told us.

I swear, sometime in the near future that guy's gonna become a drag queen. I took a huge bite of my burger, effectively finishing off a quarter of it.

"Thanks," I said, with my mouth full. Arthur nodded.

We ate, babbled and laughed like any other day. I felt giddy from being so close to Arthur. (I'm such a sap).

Anyways, so then Feliks had a brainwave.

"Hey, Kiku!" he yelled overtop our heads. "Like, since it's Valentine's Day, which is totally awesome, why don't we play that weird game of yours with the chocolate sticks?"

_The Pocky thing? I love that game!_

Kiku looked back shyly. "Ah…I guess," he said. He slid a box of Pocky towards him.

"Like, thanks!" He turned his attention to the rest of the table. "Hey, guys, everyone listen!" He waved the box of Pocky in the air. "Let's play this thing! Except, like, juicier!"

A couple people groaned. "Mais, quelle bonne idée!" Francis said. He had a terrible habit of forgetting to speak English.

"Matthew?" I said, sighing.

"He said it's a good idea," Matthew translated.

Thank goodness I have a bilingual brother.

"Right, so I think that we should make the loser, like, the one that turns away, get asked any question or given any order and they, like, totally have to do it or say it!" Feliks went on, not caring about anyone's opinion.

I swear this entire day was like a sudden invasion from elementary school. Seriously, truth or dare?

"NO CHANGING PLACES!" Feliks ordered. "Keep the two people next to you!"

I looked to my left. Kiku was beside me. I don't think he'd be a hard one to beat at the Pocky game. Major upside: I was sitting beside Arthur. If we hadn't been so squished together, I think I would have jumped with joy.

Matthew, across from me, cleared his throat. I looked at him, he grinned at me, holding back a snicker.

He was the only one who knew about my thing for Arthur. I rolled my eyes and blushed. I subtly flipped him the bird.

I guess no one felt like arguing with Feliks. I certainly wasn't gonna, at least.

"Alright, let's start!" someone said, who I soon discovered was Gilbert. Where did he come from?

Feliks handed me a Pocky stick. "You and Kiku first!" he said. "Then Kiku and Gilbert, and so on."

That would mean me and Arthur were last. FML.

Anyways, so me and Kiku grabbed hold of each end of the stick and started eating. I grinned when there was like 2 inches of it left, expecting him to shy away. But he didn't.

What the hell?

When there was an inch left, I pulled away. I had to. I once promised myself that only Arthur could ever get that close to my lips.

The guys at the table were laughing and shouting. I was blushing. I felt Arthur loosen up. Apparently he had been tense.

I swear Kiku's a weird guy. Anyways, so everyone kept forcing him to make me do something. Kiku ignored them. He didn't seem to care much for the interrogation. "Uh…Alfred-san, what's your favourite kind of sushi?" he asked awkwardly.

Ha. How fitting of him. "California," I replied simply.

"MOVING ON NOW!" Feliks shouted, deafening us all, while handing another stick to Kiku and Gilbert.

It took a while, but they got the game going again. Kiku and Gilbert (winner = Kiku), Gilbert and Matthew (Gilbert. But to be fair, Mattie pulled away when there was only like a millimetre left), Matthew and Francis (Matthew, because I was glaring at Francis the whole time, ready to pounce if he did anything to Mattie), Francis and Toris (Toris, because Feliks was glaring at Francis in the same way I was), Toris and Raivis (Tie), Raivis and Feliks (Feliks), and finally…

I shot a sideways glance at Arthur. He was chewing his lip thoughtfully.

The Pocky sticks got to Feliks and Arthur.

Now this is the one I was interested in: I knew Feliks would win, meaning Arthur would have to do something. Knowing Feliks, he would make it embarrassing.

So yeah, Feliks did win.

And then this madman shit happened.

Feliks said, "Totally ask the person you like to the dance tonight! Like, now!"

I nearly died of…heart stoppage?

Arthur took a shuddery breath and turned red. He muttered something incomprehensible.

Feliks rolled his eyes. "Dude, like, speak u-"

"I asked Al…Alfred if he would come to the dance with me tonight."

What?

What?

What?

WHAT?

I think I said that out loud, because then Arthur freaked. I felt him shaking. He gritted his teeth. I was afraid this was one of those times he had a real short temper. "I ASKED IF YOU WOULD GO TO THE BLOODY DANCE WITH ME!"

There were tears in his eyes. He stood up and stormed out of the caf. I wanted to go after him. I wanted to so badly.

It still hadn't sunk in. I was still dazed. I felt like I was floating. I was thinking about the events of the day so far. I was trying to put two and two together.

If I had a million dollars.

_"Good enough romance for you?"_

_"They just don't care about me like that."_

_"Yes, it's no problem."_

_"Earth to Alfred."_

_"I took the liberty of assuming you wanted a burger." _

I must have been sitting there for a while. Matthew stood up from the table and walked towards me. He hissed in my ear. "Don't just sit there and smile stupidly! Go after him!"

So I did. I sprinted down the hall. Around a corner. Around another corner. (Our school is shaped like a box.)

There he was, sitting against his locker with his face in his hands. I walked up to him, shoving my hands into the pockets of my bomber jacket. "Hey," I said quietly. Caringly.

He looked up at me. Then back to his hands. "I'm sorry, Alfred…"

"Look, it's okay," I said. "Just let me get something straight. You…you…" I swallowed. "_Like_ me?"

He bit his lip. "More than just bloody _like_…" he said quietly, blushing. "I…I didn't want you to find out this way…" he said. "But, well, since you know, here."

I didn't notice earlier, but he had a Ziploc bag of something in his hands. He tossed it up at me. I examined it. It was full of little cinnamon hearts.

My own heart melted with happiness. The entire thing hadn't yet sunk in, though.

"Thank you, Arthur." I said. "And about the dance-"

"You really don't have to," he said.

"-I wish I could, but I'm-" I stopped suddenly.

I was about to say that I was in the band that was supposed to play for the Valentine's Day dance tonight, which is true. I had totally forgotten about the dance…

Anyways, I suddenly started getting this awesome idea in my head. Something I could do for Arthur. Because (ohmyGAWD) he loved me, and I loved him too. But I wasn't about to tell him that.

"I'm busy…" I finished.

"Oh. Okay." He looked up and smiled at me weakly, just as the bell that ended lunch rang.

God, I felt like kissing him.

But no. That could wait.

He left for his last two periods. I left for my last two (different) periods.

I formulated The Plan in my mind. I hoped it would make Arthur happy.

I floated on air all of third period, not paying attention in class, daydreaming about me and Arthur. But now all me daydreams felt like actual possibilities, and it was making me giddy. (The fact that Arthur liked me _still_ had yet to sink in.)

I wrote Arthur a note. I would put it on his desk for his last period class.

After English, I dashed as quickly as I could to what I knew was Arthur's World History class. I put the note on his desk than dashed out as quickly as I could. The whole thing probably took like 20 seconds.

I didn't feel like going to last period, American History. Plus, I already knew so much on that topic that the prof didn't care when I skipped. He knew I'd get 100 on every test anyways.

So I briefly stopped at my locker and got some shit out before heading out the door.

As soon as I was out there and the fresh winter air blew my hair back, _it_ finally hit me. I ran around the front area of the school, shouting joyfully and hugging trees and jumping in the snow and doing absolutely anything you could imagine.

I was so damn happy. I thought I was the luckiest guy on the planet at that moment. I closed my eyes, regaining my cool, and opened them again to look at the small ray of sun shining through all those February clouds.

Arthur was in love with me. There was nothing else in the world that mattered.

TBC.


	2. Chapter 2

**-Arthur-**

_Hey Arthur, I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the dance with you tonight. Matthew's going to be there, though. Go with him. I'd love if you did that. You won't regret it, I promise._

_Sorry again._

_Alfred_

I read the note for what must have been the hundredth time in the first half-hour of that class. I looked at the clock above the classroom door. 2:30, it read.

I sighed, placing the paper back in my pocket.

I'd tried to analyse the note over a thousand times. Why did he want me to go with his brother? Was it because he thought their similar looks would throw off my feelings for him? Did he not want anything to do with me? What did he mean by 'you won't regret it?'

Anyways, going to the dance with Matthew wasn't going to make me stop loving Alfred anytime soon. Matthew was shy all the time, even more so than I. Alfred was the opposite. For some reason I can't possibly fathom, I fell for _him_, in middle school. It's been nearly 5 years, now.

I sighed again. The World History teacher heard me. She's alright as a person, not as an instructor. The stuff we were learning was stuff I had known almost all my life. "Mister Kirkland," she said. She called on me whenever no one else volunteered to speak. "Please name three of the articles of the Treaty of Versailles relating to Germany."

"German armed forces were to be number no more than 100, 000, Germany was to lose its colonies and pay 5 billion francs to France in reparations," I replied. It was strictly elementary-school material in my opinion.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Francis – the frog – poke Ludwig – the German – in the back. The rivalry lives on today.

My head wasn't in History, though. Well, in a sense, it was. Recent history.

I'd already decided to go to the dance with Matthew. For some reason Alfred wanted me to, and despite my questions, I wasn't going to say no to him.

God, I wish that whole cafeteria scene hadn't happened. I had planned to tell him of my feelings after school that day (that's what the cinnamon hearts were for. I know Alfred loves cinnamon). Then Feliks came and had to make me do that.

And because I am indeed a man of my word, I came out and told him then and there. I could have tried to beat Feliks at the game, but he wouldn't have turned away. I wasn't going to kiss anyone anytime soon unless they were a specific blond-haired American with a smile that looked like it belonged in Hollywood.

As well, the improvisation from drama class earlier, for me was simply an excuse to get close to him without him suspecting a thing. I must say, I do consider myself a rather good actor, if nothing else. The reason I didn't want to be the 'girl' in the song was so I wouldn't have to go through the painstakingly difficult task of having to distance myself from him.

The bell rang suddenly, at 3:10, snapping me out of my thoughts. I had been daydreaming for a total of forty minutes. I zipped up my bag and headed to my locker. I tried to put my stuff away slowly, so I would get one more chance to see Alfred before I left for the day. He didn't show up. I hope he hadn't skipped again. The teachers hated it when he did that, and Matthew, Gilbert and I often had to conjure up some kind of cover story for him.

I gave up waiting and headed home. Alfred and I lived on the same street and we sometimes walked home together. I would understand why he wouldn't want to see me after today, though. I stared at his house, number 263, as I passed by. It seemed like there was nobody home. 10 minutes later, I got to my house, number 1105. I unlocked the door and went straight upstairs to my room. Luckily, my irritating younger brother Peter wouldn't be home for another hour or so. The elementary school was farther away than the high school.

I examined myself in the mirror in my room. I looked a bit too tired and sweaty for a dance, so I went to take a shower.

I'm not going to lie. Even after a mere three hours, I missed him. Alfred, I mean. God, I think I'm the only person in the entire bloody world capable of wanting to see someone every hour of every day. And it's been like that for 5 years.

I'm a bloody romantic, but no one apart from me knows it.

That's basically what was going through my head as I stepped out of the shower.

I wrapped a towel around my body, walked out of the lavatory, and went in search of a clean shirt.

As I was doing up the last button, I heard the front door swing open and my brother laughing as he ran inside. My parents followed him wordlessly. I pretended like I wasn't home. "Arthur?" I heard Peter shouting. "Arthur, where are you?"

I sighed. "Up here," I said unenthusiastically. I slipped some trousers on.

Peter barged into my room without bothering to knock. "Arthur, you'll never guess what happened today!"

That seemed like his catch phrase. What he usually told me, though, was never that incredible. "What happened?" I said, trying to make my hair look just a touch neater.

"There was this boy from your school who came over to my school today for some odd reason! And when he said he was from your school I asked him if he knew you and he said yes and he also said this weird thing happened at lunchtime today and you were crying and everything!"

My ears hurt from his run-on sentence with all the 'ands'. I turned away from him. "What was his name?" I asked, pretending to act indifferent when I was actually blushing furiously. So what if I had been crying? Alfred said 'what' four sodding times as if he were mocking me!

"Mister Galante!" he said. "He was really nice to me!"

Galante?

Oh, Raivis. I briefly wondered what he was doing in a sixth year class. Then I realized he could have easily been mistaken for a 12-year-old.

Peter jumped on my bed. "So what were you crying about?" he asked me.

"That's my own problem." I started doing up my tie, Full Windsor style.

"Come on, tell meeeeee," he insisted. Then he stopped bouncing. "Is it because of that nerdy-looking bloke you want to marry?"

I nearly choked on…air. "Whatever gave you the idea that I wanted to marry him!" I shouted, incredulous. Then I realized my parents were still downstairs and quieted down. "And he's not nerdy-looking."

Peter had somehow figured out about my thing for Alfred. We had been doing an English project together in ninth year, he had come over to my house, and Peter just noticed how…into him I was. He was a bloody observant 9-year-old back then.

"Well," Peter said, pulling me out of the brief lapse of attention, "Mister Vargas-" (that was the Italian brothers' father. And Peter's *groan* sex-ed instructor.) "-said that when you marry someone, it's because you love them!" he went on. "And you love Albert, right?"

"Al_fred_," I corrected. I believe I had been continuously blushing for about 5 minutes by then. "And yes, I do."

But I didn't want to think about anything beyond tonight. I didn't want to think about what Alfred thought of me. I just felt like ignoring my thoughts until I could properly confront him the next day. "Please get out of my bedroom now," I told Peter, trying to sound annoyed. I just didn't have the energy.

Peter left without another word, realizing he had won the most recent round of Try-To-Piss-Off-Arthur-And-Get-Away-With-It.

At around seven, I went downstairs to have some tea. I'd have to leave in about an hour for the dance, and tea always helped to calm me down.

I pulled a book at random off a shelf, sat on the sofa with my tea, and passed the time enjoying both.

At 7:50, I got a call on my cellular.

"Yes?" I said.

"Is this Arthur?"

"Yes. Alfred?"

"This is Matthew."

"Oh. Hello, Matthew." My heart rate slowed down.

"You know you're late, eh?"

I frowned, confused. "I should be leaving in ten minutes. It starts at eight-thirty, doesn't it?"

"_Seven_-thirty."

"Oh." Bugger. I looked at my watch. "Sorry. I'll meet you in a half-hour, alright?"

"Cool. It's okay."

"Goodbye."

"See you."

We hung up. I grabbed my jacket from the hook. "Bye, Mum! Bye, Dad!"

I heard my dad's mumbled goodbye from the kitchen. My mother emerged, brandishing a knife in one hand and an aubergine in the other. She waved the latter at me. "Have fun!" she said. With that I walked out the door.

Half an hour later, on the dot, I got to the school. Matthew was waiting for me just inside the doors. I heard muffled music from the gymnasium. "Sorry to keep you waiting," I said.

"It's fine. I just told Gilbert to go and not worry about me." He yawned. "Shall we start moving, then?" he said. I nodded, and we started down the first hall.

He was here with Gilbert? "Wait a second. Didn't Alfred tell you to come here with me because you had no one to go with?"

"No…well technically, yes. Gilbert's playing guitar in the band. So I _kind of have_ no one I'm with."

That just made me more confused. I had thought they were just going to play music over the speakers.

We rounded another corner and I saw the gymnasium doors at the end of the hall. "What is Alfred doing, anyways?" I asked, looking at him.

"He's…busy," he said simply, the slightest of smiles playing at his lips.

It seemed I wasn't going to get a better answer than that.

We got to the doors and Matthew opened one while I opened the other. It took a couple seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light, but what I eventually did see took my breath away.

Alfred stood on the stage, bent over a microphone stand. His back heaved ever so slightly from the effort of singing his last song. All I could see at the moment was his hair. The bright lights above the stage framed it…well, beautifully, and the single strand that protruded from the top of his head glowed golden. God, he was absolutely perfect.

The gym door shut behind me with a fairly loud click. Alfred, hearing it, looked up and straight at me.

I sort of stopped breathing. The look on Alfred's face was unlike one I had ever seen on that normally over-hyperactive American. His face was glistening with sweat, making his glasses fog up slightly. His eyebrows were lowered, his eyes half-closed and his lips slightly parted in an unintentional smile. That's where I was looking as his mouth started moving to form words. "This song goes out to all you lovers on the dance floor," he said, slightly out of breath. "And," Alfred continued, all the while staring at me with the sternest of expressions, "To Arthur Kirkland."

I twitched and my eyes widened as all gazes turned towards me. I saw Alfred smile. Then he turned around to the band behind him and nodded. They started playing a slow, older-style ballad that seemed somewhat familiar to me – though I can't say when I had heard it before. People on the floor started looking left and right, trying to spot their so-called 'significant others'. I shifted my eyes. My special person was right there on the stage in front of me. The only one I'd ever want to spend Valentine's Day with.

Alfred turned back to his microphone. He swayed slowly on the stage and closed his eyes completely. Then he started to sing, and all doubts, questions and memories of the day were simply swept to the back of my brain.

_Earth angel, Earth angel  
>Will you be mine?<br>My darling dear  
>Love you all the time<br>I'm just a fool,  
>A fool in love with you<em>

His singing took my breath away. In truth, I'd never heard Alfred sing before – and it was more incredible than I could have imagined. His constant high-pitched babble was gone. His voice came out smooth as silk and only the slightest vibrato was added on to the long notes. I started to tingle in a strange way. The sensation started at my fingers, spreading up my arms and into my cheeks. I'm sure they turned quite a vivid pink. Alfred…I was losing myself in the beautiful tone of his voice.

_Earth angel, Earth angel,  
>The one I adore<br>Love you forever and ever more.  
>I'm just a fool,<br>A fool in love with you_

The words. I was trying to figure out what he meant by the _words_.

What a git, I thought. Leave it to him to choose the cheesiest song possible.

_I fell for you, and I knew  
>The vision of your love's loveliness<br>I hope and I pray that someday  
>I'll be the vision of your hap-happiness<em>

Alfred removed the microphone from the stand and sat slowly on the edge of the stage, opening his eyes to stare – dare I say lovingly? – at my face.

_Earth angel, earth angel  
>Please be mine<br>My darling dear  
>Love you all the time<br>I'm just a fool  
>A fool in love with you<em>

I stared up at him. I didn't realize it, but I had started slowly walking away from the door and towards the stage. Soon I was close enough to it that I could feel the heat from the stage lights on my face as well.

_I fell for you and I knew  
>The vision of your love's loveliness<br>I hope and I pray that someday  
>I'll be the vision – the vision of your happiness<em>

Alfred motioned for me to come closer. I looked around me, embarrassed.

_Earth angel, earth angel, please be mine…_

I walked slowly towards him, feeling my cheeks flush darker with each step I took. I noticed, unfortunately, that everyone else had stopped dancing to watch the exchange between us.

_My darling dear, love you for all time…_

Eventually I was standing about half a foot away.

_I'm just a fool…_

Alfred softly took my hand in his own. He laced our fingers together and held our hands at shoulder height. I didn't resist him. I'm sure I was too far in shock and wonder to react.

_A fool in love…_

Alfred held the word love for a long time. Then the band stopped playing, and his voice was all that was heard throughout the gymnasium. My heart started beating faster. Alfred smiled at me. He opened his mouth one final time. He was now only a centimetre away from my face.

_With…you._

After a brief moment of complete and utter silence, Alfred dropped the hand with the microphone, breathing heavily. Everyone clapped politely. He didn't even acknowledge them. He kissed the back of my hand – the one that was in his own – then brought the microphone back to his mouth. My heart threatened to beat clear out of my chest. There was only one thing running through my head:

No way…

"Hey Arthur," he said softly, grinning. The crowd quieted down. I blushed profusely and covered the mic with my hand.

"Not to the whole place, you git!" I hissed.

Alfred smiled playfully, like his old self. He shook his head and snatched the mic back from me. "Arthur Kirkland, will you be my Valentine?"

For the second time of the night, I simply stopped breathing. My eyes widened. A few things ran through my head, like the fact that there were 200 people currently staring at me…

Then, well, I just stopped thinking entirely. I threw my arms around Alfred's neck and kissed him full on the lips.

He tasted like cinnamon.

Alfred dropped the mic on the stage, which resulted in loud, annoying feedback. He hugged me tightly, stood up and returned the kiss with just as much passion. I wrapped my legs around him.

And everyone on the dance floor erupted into cheers.

Alfred and I broke the kiss at the same time, rather shocked by the reaction. Alfred let me down softly and picked up the mic. "Uh…thanks, I guess…" he said, laughing uncomfortably. "Moving on now."

I watched, smiling in wonder, as Alfred climbed back on the stage. He was about to start another song when Gilbert, with his guitar, tapped him on the shoulder and said something to him, snickering. I couldn't hear what he said. Alfred gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder, laughing in response. He handed the mic to Gilbert, got down from the stage and walked over to me.

"What did he say?" I asked.

Alfred gave me a crooked smile. "He told me to go have a dance with my boyfriend."

I turned away from him to hide my blush and my stupid smile. I felt as if I were floating. It was so surreal. "Boyfriend. Right."

Alfred looked like he was about to come up with a witty response when Gilbert started talking. "Hey guys," he said. "I figured my buddy here" – he pointed to Alfred – "Needed some quality make-out time after that. So I'm playin' this one."

The crowd laughed and made wolf calls, with the exception of Alfred and I, who rolled our eyes and faced each other. Gilbert strummed a chord. Alfred recognised the song right away. His eyes lit up and he grinned. "Come on Arty!" he said, pulling me by the hand closer to the middle of the dance floor. "Let's dance!"

Arty? Where'd that name come from?

It was making me get butterflies.

Anyways, Gilbert started to sing.

_There will be no rules tonight  
>If there were we'd break them<br>Nothing's gonna stop us now,  
>Let's get down to it<em>

_Nervous hands and anxious smiles  
>I can feel you breathing<br>This is right where we belong  
>Turn up the music<em>

Alfred mouthed the lyrics, doing an aimless dance around me. I tried to follow him, which ended up in the two of us flailing our arms and jumping up and down like bloody idiots. I didn't care. I laughed. Alfred could sing better than anyone, but he sure was a lousy dancer.

_This is the dance for all the lovers  
>Taking a chance for one another<br>Finally it's our time now  
>These are the times I will remember<br>Breaking the city sights together  
>Finally it's our time now<em>

_This is more than just romance  
>It's and endless summer<br>I can feel the butterflies  
>Leading me through it<em>

_Take my heart I'll take your hand  
>As we're falling under<br>This is an objection now  
>Let's get down to it<em>

_This is the dance for all the lovers  
>Taking a chance for one another<br>Finally it's our time now  
>These are the times I will remember<br>Breaking the city sights together  
>Finally it's our time now<em>

Gilbert went to his knees, soloing. We took the chance to look around for our friends on the dance floor. I spotted Feliciano jumping around a flustered Ludwig, Kiku and Heracles asleep on each other's shoulders on the bench, and Antonio – who had apparently returned to school for the dance – trying to get Lovino to dance with him. Alfred's brother – whose name has suddenly slipped my mind – was standing alone in front of the stage, staring at Gilbert coyly. Gilbert winked at him, then got up and started singing again.

_This is the dance for all the lovers  
>Taking a chance for one another<br>Finally it's our time now  
>These are the times I will remember<br>B-B-Breaking the city sights together  
>Finally it's our time now<em>

Alfred and I clapped and cheered along with the rest of the school. We were both rather gross and sweaty. Alfred nodded at Gilbert, telling him to do another song. He turned back to me. "Let's go get a bench, I'm exhausted," he said leading us towards the side of the gymnasium.

I grinned. "Never thought I'd hear you say that," I muttered.

Alfred sat down. "What was that?"

"Nothing. By the way, the chocolates-"

"That was me," he said.

I smiled understandingly at him. But then all my questions came back. I decided to focus on just one.

"So anyways, why did you go through the trouble of doing all this? Why didn't you just say something earlier and spare yourself the embarrassment?" I sat down facing him.

Alfred scratched the back of his head. "W-well, you know, I was afraid you'd just…reject me or something …"

"I told you after lunch, I…I lo-"

"This is, you know, erm…" Alfred cut me off. He blushed. "More romantic, don't you think?" He smiled shyly at me.

I blushed. He had done the absolute sweetest thing in the world for me. I shook my head. "You fool," I said.

Alfred giggled. "A fool in love with you," he sang softly. He took my hands in his own, leaning over. He brought our lips together in a kiss: a simple, sweet kiss that needed no words to convey a message that made my heart soar.

Alfred was in love with me. There was nothing else in the world that mattered.

** End **


End file.
